Favorite 'Odd' Caliber

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The .30-40 is an under rated cartridge -- it was once considered the ideal elk cartridge. Mine is cut down -- bubbaized about 100 years ago -- with a cocking piece peep sight.
 
Oddest caliber I own is 30-06 (others I own are 22 LR, 223, 7.62x39, 308, and a 12 gauge).

I need to buy something odd at some point. I've always been infatuated with the Blaser R8, and they are offered in a whole host of odd European calibers (8x68 S, 9.3x57, etc...). On the other hand, I like being able to buy steel cased ammo on Midway for $0.25-$0.50/round :D
 
In over 40 years I have never seen anyone else carrying a .264 Winchester Magnum except my brother in law and I sold him the one he used.:)
 
another .35 Remington lover here. I really like it in my little 600 Remington with a 1-4x Leupold scope. I shoot 180 Grain Speers out of it at a true 2400 FPS with reloader 7 for the local game but made up some 220 grain loads for moose but never shot one :( . The Remington 200 Corelokt factory load is great for hogs to 220 yards or so. My 180 Speer load has taken a blacktail at almost 300 yards awhile back when I started carrying the .35 instead of a .308 in A zone California. The .35 Remington lays game low very fast IMHO way out of what it should do and the 600 is a tack driver .
 
I hesitated to post this. This probably just goes to show that I haven't shot many odd-ball calibers, but mine is .32 ACP
 
In a rifle, the most oddball caliber I own is 30 Carbine, which isn't that odd. In a pistol, 38 Super. Which again, isn't that odd. At least I don't think so.
 
.358 Win

I have it in a BLR. Being a light and handy rifle is great, but the downside is it kicks the stink outta you. Killed many a deer with it, but it's not making many trips to the range

Might shoot it more if I had a bolt gun chambered in .358 as I have the dies to reload for it.
 
My 30-40 Krag was also Bubba'd well before the mid-70's when I picked it up. It also has the cocking piece peep sight. It also has an Alexander Henry fore end. I have seen a couple of others like it, and it makes me wonder if there was a cottage industry do this "sporterization" some time in the 20's or 30's.
 
Maybe not so odd but a Savage M99A in .250/3000 which has taken uncounted numbers of deer with my handloads. POSSIBLY my limited edition Rem 700 in .350 mag. This rifle easily stays well under 1" at 100 yards, average about 2/3" for 5 shots.
 
My 30-40 Krag was also Bubba'd well before the mid-70's when I picked it up. It also has the cocking piece peep sight. It also has an Alexander Henry fore end. I have seen a couple of others like it, and it makes me wonder if there was a cottage industry do this "sporterization" some time in the 20's or 30's.
Click to expand...
You bet there was. That cottage industry thrived well into the '60s. Bigfoot Wallace, my custom '03 Springfield in .35 Brown-Whelen, was built in the late '60s or early '70s by CW Fitch of Phoenix. It has the original barrel -- Fitch reamed it out to .35 caliber and re-rifled it. RF Sedgley was another famous gunsmith who turned out hundreds if not thousands of sporterized Springfields and other rifles.
 
Too many to list (I own very few rifles you can currently buy factory ammo for!), but my most recent favorite is the .500/.450 No.1 Musket chambered in a Westley Richards Model 1869/71 'Improved' Martini.
 
I don't have one but am fascinated by the model 99 in 250-3000 with the rotary magazine.
 
My dad was in oil exploration and worked in some of the most remote places in the world. His favorite rifle was a 99 Savage in .250-3000. He killed a tiger in Sumatra with it in the late '30s and killed a boxcar load of big game in Ethiopia in the '40s, including a cheetah, a lesser Kudu good enough for Roland Ward, and so on.

I always wanted one, but as I grew older I learned why Dad always said, "The 87 grain bullet is better than the 100 grain." The Model 99s rifling is optimized for the 87 grain bullet, and many of them will not shoot 100 grain bullets accurately.

A few years back I stumbled across a Model 99 in .308 Winchester and snapped it up. This rifle was built around '58 and has the safety on the trigger guard, so it came out before Savage was forced to make changes for economic reasons.

Another rifle I always wanted was a model 1895 Winchester in .30-06. But I learned most such rifles have headspace problems -- steel too soft for such a high pressure round. The Model 99 in .308 combines the virtues of both rifles, power of the .30-06 (or almost) and the strength and carry-ability of the Model 99.
 
338-06

Only ~100 yds behind the 338 win mag but recoil similar to a heavy 30-06 and suitable for ultralight hunting rifles. Best of both worlds.
 
I've had a few odd ball calibers over the years. At this point in my life I prefer to keep things simple and don't use anything that isn't pretty much standard. I have a 10mm pistol that is on the edge, but fairly common.

With big game rounds I honestly feel the 280 is the best balanced all around North American cartridge. Edging out even the 30-06. But I no longer own one. The 338-06 is also a contender, and a 2 rifle battery of 338-06 and 280 would be a good choice. But I'm content to just load my 30-06 with either heavy or light bullets and come close enough to either.
 
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